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Zep Offline OP
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In late spring and throughout the summer our pond has pretty bad aquatic vegetation along the shorelines. We had Pond Boss Guru and Pond Boss founding member Mike Otto out last summer and Mike stated a significant part of the problem was that when our pond was built by the previous owner 6 years ago.. that they didn't slope the shorelines steep enough. In other words our shallow water along our shoreline is a great breeding ground for vegetation growth. Mike said it was inexpensive when you are building a pond to make sure the shore drops off enough to discourage vegetation growth, but that once a pond is built it can be pretty costly to try and dig out the shoreline once a lake is full.

So fast forward to the present. This month we began a log cabin project on the property and decided that it made more sense after renting a backhoe for almost $2500 a month that we would purchase a used one, use it for a year or two and then probably sell it. We bought a used one today with an "extended-hoe".

So...now we will have access to a "free" backhoe and I was wondering if anyone has any experience of digging out their shoreline while the lake is full (or at least almost full) to make their shoreline have a steeper slope?

BTW...don't worry...we wouldn't just jump in and do this without consulting with Mike Otto again, in fact if we do it we'd probably have Mike back out to over-see a day or two of trying to do this. If we try to do it, we also may just do sections and not attempt the entire 4 acre pond shoreline. We thought the property will be kind of a mess with dual cabin construction going on the next 8-10 months, so if the pond was a mess too...it wont really matter.

Has anyone tried this "messy job" and what was the result? Thoughts? Crazy idea? Do-able?

My brother's "new" toy:


Found this on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG4rxvwXN5E



Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Great looking piece of equipment. Just what I need!!!
Zep, I had that done on a pond I had. It worked out well, but once you start it's hard to see what you've done, so you'll probably miss some spots, but that's not a big deal.
Good luck, and remember pictures...


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I had my pond builder come out and do it on my .62 acre pond. He had to leave the spoils on the ground over the winter to drain and dry out a little before he moved it.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Use an excavator and load into a pan. Then slow dump spread in low areas of pasture.
Btw nice ride

Last edited by Tums; 01/18/13 12:00 AM.
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Good for you Mark! Did you get it at an auction, if so where?

You got a lot going on this year.


AL

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Mark, we had that done a few years back during the BAD drought.
The shallow upper end of the pond was exposed and easy to deepen around the dry shoreline - even dug a neat retention pond.
Best of luck but hope your pond stays full. grin

Fun to watch - good operator ran parallel to bank and placed dirt to side in a hurry - finished job in less than a day - even took out some cattails....
George



N.E. Texas 2 acre and 1/4 acre ponds
Original george #173 (22 June 2002)




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I have done a fair amount of personal backhoe work. The perfect companion to it is some way to move the dirt, usually a dump truck/ trailer of some sort. My buddy and I often say that it should be a law that if you buy a backhoe there should be a dump truck with it as standard equipment.

Digging in water is tough. It can be done, but I don't do it unless it is absolutely the only way to get it done. How deep is your pond? Can you drop the water level down for the summer to expose the edges you want to work without fear of losing your fish. Is your dirt all clay, or do you have to re-line the pond bottom when done. Is the edges deep with muck, or is it solid dirt. How much dirt/depth/area are we talking about removing. Cubic feet can add up fast. Will the backhoe reach all the way out to the point you need to reach.

Lots of variables that will change the method of attack.

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Zep Offline OP
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Thanks guys....sounds like the shoreline dig could work...will keep you updated.

@FireIsHot: My brother owned a backhoe in Colorado so he knows a little bit about them, although far from an expert. He's been watching on-line auctions, contacting sellers on e-Bay, Craigslist, & area re-sellers.

Darr Equipment in Irving will run basically a "background check" on these machines from the VIN# and you can find out lots of good history. The guys at Darr pretty much knew we weren't gonna buy from them, but they were still very helpful.

My brother tends to beat people down on everything he buys, so I am pretty sure he got a good deal. He bought it at some re-seller place near Tyler, Texas. He took in copies of on-line auctions and the guy came down to what we wanted to pay. Since it's close, delivery will be free as opposed to shipping costs from out of state from some e-bay seller, and the guy helped him fill out some AG paperwork where we saved like $1600 on sales tax. So hopefully we got a good machine...we'll see.


Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Do you rent your brother out? Sounds he makes sure he gets a deal.


AL

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Zep Offline OP
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fish n chips.....the max dept is 14-15 feet. Not sure about dropping the water level...we just have an overflow drain pipe in the middle of the dam and an emergency grassy area that would serve as an emergency overflow spillway...previous owner said he never saw it high enough for emergency spillway. The edges are pretty solid dirt, when you step out you dont really sink in much, the guy digging our foundations right now reports a clay soil. The backhoe hasn't even been delivered yet, so I am not sure about reach just yet. Like you say lots of variables. I appreciate your feedback and help. As you can see in the picture below a friend of mine was standing out in the shallow shoreline and the aqautic vegetation along the shore got much, much worse after this picture in the spring. It was like a ring around our entire 4 acre pond. We have lots of "botton-land" flood plain that is close-by to the pond where we could dispose of dirt...but yeah a dump truck would be helpful.



Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Zep Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: FireIsHot
Do you rent your brother out?
Sounds he makes sure he gets a deal.


Al he is a nut!
But a good one...lol
When he buys a car he does all the carfax research dealer invoice stuff, walks in and says "here is exactly what you guys paid for this vehicle...I am paying cash...I am buying today...no tire-kicking...you guys can make x-amount from me or I will go down the street to the other dealer and see if they want to make the deal".

So while he's out buying the "less important" stuff like backhoes, I'm given the "more important" task of finding the old rustic wagon yard-art we bought for $400 on Craigslist we had delivered from Myrtle Springs yesterday. No CarFax available for this old 1920's wagon...looks like it has high mileage, but thats what we wanted.





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This little job took 2 hours. I gave the muck a few months to dry out and used it around my property. Plan on doing the other end of the pond next month.








Don't Analyze Your Pleasures!!!
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Zep Offline OP
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Wow BuffsPond....great pics.

Did you do this because you were having the same problem I am with aquatic vegetation?

How deep a shore step off did you go?
Is it graduated or just more of a straight drop?
How long ago did you do this?
How effective has it been?


Fishing has never been about the fish....

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I would seriously consider draining your pond down some with a large trash pump. Digging in water is very hard on equipment. Not to mention a lot more time taking.

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Yep, same problem with aquatic vegetation. It's been 3 or 4 years now and so far so good. It's a straight drop off, about 2'-3' deep in most places along that shore line.


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Originally Posted By: Zep
that we would purchase a used one, use it for a year or two and then probably sell it. We bought a used one today with an "extended-hoe".



Thats what we all say!!! smile After you have it around for a while, you'll wonder how you ever did without. It will be hard to part with.

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Zep Offline OP
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lol@fishNchips...probably true!


Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Originally Posted By: Zep
fish n chips.....the max dept is 14-15 feet. Not sure about dropping the water level...we just have an overflow drain pipe in the middle of the dam and an emergency grassy area that would serve as an emergency overflow spillway...previous owner said he never saw it high enough for emergency spillway. The edges are pretty solid dirt, when you step out you dont really sink in much, the guy digging our foundations right now reports a clay soil. The backhoe hasn't even been delivered yet, so I am not sure about reach just yet. Like you say lots of variables. I appreciate your feedback and help. As you can see in the picture below a friend of mine was standing out in the shallow shoreline and the aqautic vegetation along the shore got much, much worse after this picture in the spring. It was like a ring around our entire 4 acre pond. We have lots of "botton-land" flood plain that is close-by to the pond where we could dispose of dirt...but yeah a dump truck would be helpful.





Can you lower the water level by setting up a siphon for the summer? Sure would be nice to get the water down a little bit. Even a foot or two. That picture looks like it is shallow pretty far out. I would be suprised if you can reach all the way out there from the bank.

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Zep, would you mind telling me the year, hours and price of that little beauty.
Thanks,
Randy

PS I meant to send this as a pm, but can't get that to work. If you want to leave off the price, I understand

Last edited by rmedgar; 01/18/13 11:33 PM. Reason: PS

Just do it...

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